Grutas Calcehtok — Attraction in Yucatán

Absolutely amazing place. What you need to know: It is far off the main road, so you can only get there by car. The road between Muna and Maxcanu is horrible - full of huge holes. Drive very carefully because at first you might think this is a good road. The place is rather wild and free from many tourists. There are local guides who barely speak English, but will be able to show you the cave bottom up. There are many different levels of how you can experience the cave. Guides offer "Family", "Adventure" and "Extreme" tours. "Family" means you will see the upper part of the cave, which is huge and open underground space. Most likely, you will not get muddy and will have great impression of the cave. There will be a place where Mayans apparently were fighting with advancing Conquistadors. This part is a beautiful piece of rather untouched nature. "Adventure" means you will go deeper into the cave's chambers. You will definitely get completely muddy if you go this path. You will have to slide the clay and crawl and even worm through small passages and tunnels. It is great experience, but you need to be careful and appropriately dressed. It is very warm in these caves, because there's a lot of quartz deep down there, so the best outfit is easily washable light sports clothes, but also knee and elbow protectors, as well as helmet would be very helpful (but we managed go through without any of it). Guides will give you flashlights, but that's pretty much all they have. Inside the caves are a lot of nice natural "sculptures" and minerals as well as some Mayan sculptures. I would not recommend to go adventure path if you suffer from any sort of claustrophobia. Other than that, go for it but be careful. "Extreme" tour will involve going deeper and steeper into the cave with ropes and other equipment. We did not do that, so you can try yourself if you are a cave pro.

There are no showers of any kind near the cave. So get plenty of water, towels and...

Off the beaten path!! PLEASE READ before you go. Is truly off the beaten path, but, if you can get there, it can be a life time experience. DO NOT come with big city expectations. It is a humble place and a humble operation. Road to it has big pot holes, small signs, no restroom at the location, no infrastructure. What you do have is a pristine raw location years ahead before it becomes a major touristic stop. HIRE THE GUIDE! For two reasons, 1st- The best part is that the guides here are a family who have been running it for decades and are Mayan decedents. 2nd- SAFETY, the place is dark, not marked, slippery and you can easily get hurt if you try to go on your own. Don’t be cheap and stupid, paid for the guide and make sure you TIP them. They will keep you safe and create a life time memory you can share for the rest of your life. You will get dirty, small tight spaces, bring a face mask, there is bats inside. “The magic is not to find the next amazing place. The magic is to continue to be amazed by the next magical place you find” Thank you Sergio for keeping us safe and sharing so much of your ancestors. Muchas gracias Sergio por mantenernos seguros y compartir tanto sobre...

This place was awesome. The guide said he was normally around from 9am to 6pm. At least 2 caves that on site that we saw. When we got there no one was to be seen. So we just hiked up hill to where we thought the caves were. Turns out we were right and found the main cave. We were talking up at the top and the guide calls from in the cave and comes out to says hi. He was just bring down 2 other people and said we could join them. Thankfully he heard us because we would not have been able to go since he was the only person around. But the tour was freaking awesome! Crawled through what was called the birth canal, and man it was a tight fit! About 1.5hr tour for 150 per person. The extreme tour (we unfortunately didn't have time to do it was another 2-3hrs) this place was spectacular, highly...